Margaret Qualley Sizzles In Ethan Coen’s Noir

Cinema is a collaborative medium, and as such, there have been quite a few directing groups peppered all through movie historical past. As with every collaboration, there is no assure that the band shall be collectively ceaselessly, and typically the groups do certainly break up up. The Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, underwent such a artistic breakup across the starting of this decade, with each males shifting on to make their very own films with out one another. In contrast to some artistic split-ups, nevertheless, the Coens post-breakup works could not be extra completely different from each other. The place Joel made 2021’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” an austere, intensely moody Shakespeare adaptation that recalled Ingmar Bergman and Carl Theodor Dreyer, Ethan teamed up along with his spouse Tricia Cooke to make “Drive-Away Dolls,” a mash-up of B-movie tropes (homaging every thing from “Badlands” to ’60s psychedelia flicks) that retained the Coens’ prior curiosity in dry humor and movie noir.

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Upon the discharge of “Dolls,” Coen said that he and Cooke have been planning a “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” and simply over a yr later, the second movie in that thematic trilogy has arrived: “Honey Do not!” Cheekily named for the 1956 Carl Perkins track (which has been re-recorded by dozens of artists reminiscent of The Beatles and Wanda Jackson, the latter’s model turning up on this movie), the film is one other modern-day riff on traditional noir, and one that’s unabashedly sapphic. But the place the long-gestating “Dolls” appeared a bit self-reflexive in its tone, recalling prior Coen brothers efforts like “The Massive Lebowski” and “Burn After Studying,” “Honey Do not!” feels way more distinctive. Certain, there are many non-sequiturs, some deadpan humor, and a few flashy shot compositions, however for probably the most half, the movie is an intriguingly moodier, extra indie-flavored affair. It performs like if Allison Anders have been directing a Jim Jarmusch rewrite of a Shane Black script that was adapting an previous Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett novel. With this interesting strategy, Coen and Cooke make “Honey Do not!” an impressively gritty, attractive, and idiosyncratic noir, one which turns into much more participating because of a cracking lead efficiency from Margaret Qualley.

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“Honey Do not!” begins with what appears like a splashy sequence on paper: a good looking, mysterious bombshell (Lera Abova), sporting leopard print every thing, approaches a automotive that is not too long ago crashed off the facet of a distant freeway, with the lifeless physique of the motive force, a younger lady, inside. Along with it not being clear whether or not this girl brought on the deadly accident or not, the thriller deepens when she removes a single ring from the lifeless lady’s hand, then goes and swims bare in a close-by lake earlier than heading off on her bike. The ring incorporates a specific kind of cross on it, which we quickly study is the emblem for an area church known as the 4-Manner Temple, run by Pastor Drew Devlin (Chris Evans). When native personal investigator Honey O’Donahue (Qualley) is knowledgeable by her native police detective contact, Marty (Charlie Day), in regards to the lady’s dying and realizes she’d tried to rent her a couple of days earlier, she takes it upon herself to poke round city and see what shady dealings may need led to this premature demise.

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As traditional noir as this setup for the story is, Coen and Cooke (who, like with “Drive-Away Dolls,” presumably co-directed this movie with out credit score as nicely) keep away from any sheen of glitz or glamour that one would possibly anticipate to see include it, particularly if this have been a Shane Black or Quentin Tarantino movie. As an alternative, the administrators determine to soak your complete atmosphere of the film in a stew of small-town desperation, an aesthetic which the film’s opening credit make plain, hiding the names of the filmmakers inside signage amidst the streets of Bakersfield, California (a intelligent little bit of graphic design which Coen admits was impressed by John Huston’s “Fats Metropolis” within the press notes) to the strains of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” Maybe “desperation” is even too robust a phrase, because the characters do not feel so determined to flee Bakersfield as they do exhausted by it, having resigned themselves to their destiny years in the past. This temper of resignation solely makes the anti-heroines and creeps that populate the movie really feel nearer to on a regular basis shmoes, because it takes away even the underdog romance of the city noir and leaves the malaise and ennui. But “Honey Do not!” isn’t a bleak movie, as this downtrodden setting makes the moments of offbeat wit, menace, and intrigue gleam that a lot brighter.

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The solar round which “Honey Do not!” orbits is Qualley, who proves as soon as once more what an immense expertise she is with this efficiency. After all the actress has a magnificence and magnetism possessed by many stars, but it is changing into clear with every look simply how a lot vary as a personality actress she has. It is onerous to choose two Qualley roles that appear alike; definitely, there’s a big gulf between the desperate to please, image-obsessed Sue of “The Substance” and the no-nonsense, take-her-or-leave-her angle of Jamie in “Drive-Away Dolls.” Honey makes for one more character feather in Qualley’s filmography cap, with the actress exuding a outstanding mix of confidence and shrewdness. Certain, Honey is dressed like the ladies on covers of classic pulp crime novels: excessive heels, tight, colourful clothes, and so forth. But it is by no means overdone, with costume designer Peggy Schnitzer holding Honey rooted in small-town fashions whereas trying implausible.

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It is an strategy that compliments Coen and Cooke’s remedy of Honey’s character, which is extra grounded than not. It’d have been a simple crutch to present Honey (and the opposite characters) a mouthful of tremendous stylized hard-boiled dialogue, but the writers thread the needle of holding issues sounding real looking however permitting it to nonetheless have a snap. All of the actors make a meal out of this strategy; Evans is as soon as once more having enjoyable taking part in a sleazeball, Day is an endearing combination of sexy and clueless, and Aubrey Plaza brings her particular left-of-center strategy to MG, a cop who turns into Honey’s lover. Nevertheless it’s Qualley who takes the reins of the movie so completely that it’d nonetheless be a pleasure to observe even when there have been nobody else in it.

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It is so great to have a style movie really feel this customized and be this unconcerned with serving an IP or crowd-pleasing that it may be simple to miss its shortcomings. Probably the most evident of those is the truth that, regardless of believing itself to be a darkish comedy (and casting the likes of sitcom veterans Plaza, Day, and Billy Eichner), “Honey Do not!” is not all that hilarious. Certain, there are a handful of guffaws available, and it is attainable {that a} rambunctious viewers could increase the movie’s humorous issue. But the gags within the film usually tend to elicit a figuring out smile than a stomach snigger. That artistic alternative which serves the film so nicely — Coen and Cooke dialing again on the requisite overcooked noir dialogue — has a flip facet to it in the best way that the characters all come off witty and intelligent however not a lot as to get greater than a smile.

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It isn’t like Coen would not strive, as he provides Pastor Drew a hapless henchman (Josh Pafchek) who resembles the moronic toads seen in lots of a Coen brothers movie from “Elevating Arizona” to “Fargo,” and it’s amusing to see him and one other character make so many errors whereas making an attempt to hold out successful. But Coen and Cooke appear hellbent on sustaining tight management over the film’s tone, and this implies we do not get the zany, just-slightly-out-of-control shenanigans of prior Coen brothers movies, and even the way more rambunctious “Dolls.” It is a small criticism, certain, however to place it in Coen brothers phrases, the movie appears caught in between “No Nation For Outdated Males” and “Burn After Studying,” neither too bleak nor too cartoonish.

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General, nevertheless, what the film lacks in laughs it greater than makes up for with a hip savviness that pervades each body. The sexuality of the movie — which is predominantly lesbian— is simply as frank as in “Drive-Away Dolls,” however much less outrageous. The place “Dolls” handled sexual issues in a style just like a intercourse comedy (resulting from that subgenre being one of many many kinds of exploitation films that movie performed round with), “Honey” is extra down-to-Earth. Even Pastor Drew’s continuous heterosexual dalliances, wacky as a few of them is likely to be, have an sincere awkwardness to them. Honey and MG’s bodily consolation with one another extends to the movie itself: there’s one post-coital scene the place MG’s pierced nipple is uncovered for one lengthy, unbroken shot, however ultimately all idea of titillation fades into the background, letting us discover a comparable stage of intimacy and understanding with these ladies as they’re discovering with one another.

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Noir is a really malleable style; it is one which Coen has dabbled in quite a few instances earlier than, in fact. But it is onerous to think about one other latest noir movie that is this quietly but pervasively participating, this downbeat but effortlessly cool. You’d have to return to the Nineteen Seventies, with movies like Robert Altman’s “The Lengthy Goodbye,” or the Nineteen Nineties, with movies like “The Final Seduction,” or a decade in the past, with 2015’s criminally underseen “Too Late.” Luckily, Coen and Cooke have given us this decade’s instance of such a movie with “Honey Do not!,” a film which can appear slight at first look, however has a splendidly wealthy after impact, just like the odor of stale cigarette smoke ceaselessly trapped within the partitions of a rundown bar. Proper now, that is my favourite of Coen and Cooke’s as-yet-incomplete lesbian B-movie trilogy, and except they make one thing like “Lesbians in House” subsequent, I do not see it falling in my rating.

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/Movie Ranking: 7.5 out of 10

“Honey Do not!” opens in theaters on August 22, 2025.